Dell's executive compensation committee has proved the cruelest of masters, handing ex-CEO Kevin Rollins a piddling $5m on his way out of Round Rock. The company today revealed the embarrassing payout in a SEC filing, detailing its parting of ways from Rollins.

Kalido announced the latest release of its master data management solution, MDM 8 Release 3, today. Now, I have real problems with MDM, because in my old-fashioned way, I expect product codes, customer numbers and the like to be subject to data analysis like anything else and stored in databases or data warehouses as appropriate to their business access patterns (see my comment here).

The Storage Network Industry Association (SNIA) says it will put more effort into promoting IP-based storage area networks, or SANs. That means iSCSI, although you might not realise it from reading the trade group's statements on the topic.

WLAN analysis outfit AirMagnet has brought out software designed to work with Cisco's Unified Wireless Network. AirMagnet already has a version of the tool, which is called Enterprise Analyzer, for Aruba's Mobile Edge Architecture.

I was asked if I, as a Mac user, would recommend one to a business user who is buying a personal machine for business use. I am the proud owner of an iconic Mac PowerBook G4, an eye-catching brushed metal effort that I purchased back in 2004. I have never owned a Mac desktop, being strictly Intel/Microsoft, but I travel enough using the Mac as a main machine to attempt some type of comparison.

The petition opposing Tony Blair's proposal to introduce road pricing and vehicle tracking closed last night and the 1.8 million signatories all received an email, supposedly from the Prime Minister, explaining why their opposition is misguided.

The P4350 is a modest device, containing already-proven technology. There's no HSDPA or 3G, just GPRS EDGE; no 802.11n WLAN, just 802.11b/g, leading one to hope that the user concerns of previous models has been ironed out.

You might have a 38in widescreen HDTV...you might even have a 50-in plasma display...you might even have a projector system set up as your source of home entertainment...but it's extremely unlikely you'll be able to top this...

Leaving aside the arm-wrestling practice IBM's legal department is currently getting with Platform Solutions Inc (PSI) and its ability to run IBM mainframe applications on any reasonably spec'd Itanium-based server, the availability of such software tools marks a development that could interest developers.

Microsoft has admitted its Windows Live Messenger client displayed banner ads for several days punting an application blacklisted as a security risk. Shortly after Microsoft made the admission, other outlets reported that MSN Groups displayed ads for a separate piece of software widely regarded as rogue.

European Commissioner Vivianne Reding is the internet's biggest villain of the year, according to UK internet service providers. She was given the title by the ISP Association (ISPA) in protest at the rules for registering a .eu domain name.

Viacom is playing divide and rule with the internet TV wannabes. After issuing 100,000 take down notices to YouTube contributors, the media giant has signed a deal that allows Joost to distribute its content legitimately.

The Dutch prosecutor's office is considering legal actions to test the law against child porn in the popular virtual game Second Life. With no clear litigation, it is difficult to act against perpetrators.

A cash-strapped UK Ministry of Defence is resorting to increasingly desperate measures in the struggle to get its finances back on track. The latest of these is the setting up of an eBay-style online auction site to flog the military's surplus gear, already reported in these pages.

Reminiscent of something you might find in the workshop of a mad inventor, the latest in the equip-everything-with-USB craze, according to Akihabara News, is the USB hub Sellotape dispenser, made by a Hong Kong-based company called Earth-Trek.

In an interesting twist in the battle against software piracy, Microsoft UK is promoting the benefits of Software Asset Management (SAM) under a scheme which rewards honesty - richly. It says the voluntary self-start SAM programme it introduced last November can save businesses a significant sum on licensing fees - in addition to giving them peace of mind.